Sapling
by Damnthenamedoesntfit
Summary: Tenzo had been relentlessly teased in ANBU for having long hair and a high pitched voice. They called Tenzo a girl. They didn't know how right they were.


**Ages**

 **Naruto – 4**

 **Kakashi – 18**

 **Kinoe – 15**

 **It took me a while to figure out their ages. Narutopedia isn't very clear and Kishimoto has so many plot holes it's not hard to tell he made shit up along the way. According to the anime, Naruto is four and Kakashi is fourteen years older. Kinoe is three years younger than Kakashi,** ** _soooo…_**

 **I hate maths.**

 **I've based this off Episode 355 but changed a few things.**

* * *

She had been given several names. Subject number Nine – or Nine for short – was given to her by Orochimaru, Kinoe was the name that Danzo gave her and Yukimi called her Tenzo. The last one irked her a bit, because Yukimi thought she was her little _brother_. Was it that hard to tell she was female?

She had been mistaken as a boy many times, probably because of her short hair and happuri coupled with her young age. Apparently it's difficult to tell apart the genders when people are young. She doesn't say anything when she was referred to as a 'he', preferring to let people think what they wanted to think. Even _Kakashi_ thought she was a boy when they had met several years ago, and his intuition was supposed to be top notch.

And here they were again: Kakashi with a mission to explore Orochimaru's abandoned hide out, and her own mission to retrieve Kakashi's sharingan. She thinks that he's an idiot for not checking the seal in front of the lab properly. She shields the older shinobi with a wooden dome as the seal on the door explodes. It wouldn't do for him to become barbequed.

"Kinoe?" He says surprised when he sees her.

"It's been a while, Kakashi-san. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" She asks dryly, gesturing to the crispy looking door.

The Hatake scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous. What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a mission."

"Are you my back up?"

"No, I need information about Orochimaru's experiments." Kinoe lied, shaking her head.

"Do…do you want to go together?" Kakashi asks shyly, rubbing the back of his head while his lone eye trailed elsewhere. "We're both comrades and we can share the Intel we find."

She nods, and he seems to accept this easily. She's a little amazed at his naivety. Does he really think that she could be trusted? His trusting nature could be used against him, Konoha shinobi or not. As soon as Kakashi turns around, she gestures for Kinoto (her partner for this mission) to stay behind and guard the entrance of the lab. She joins Kakashi. When she catches up to him, he peers at her so closely, she almost thinks that he's caught on to her true mission. She stays stock still as Kakashi circles around her, eyeing her now long hair and slim build.

"You know, you look remarkably like a girl," he says, and his eyes trail to the number on her shoulder. "And I see you've got a new tattoo."

She doesn't say anything, subconsciously rubbing the number nine branded on her shoulder.

 _'It's not a tattoo, and it's not new either. It's how Orochimaru identified his experiments.'_

"It seems like the only trap was the one at the entrance. Orochimaru must have been pressed for time in his rush to escape," Kakashi commented off handily as they continued through the dim hallway. "But we still have to be careful." As he says this, Kinoe tightens her grip around the kunai in her hand. Kakashi – oblivious to the kunai pointed at his back – opens a door and peers inside. Deeming it safe, he beckons her into the room, where several notes are spread among concrete tables. Shuffling through a stack of papers, he narrows his eyes.

"This lab was for human experiments."

Kinoe stiffens.

 _'Human experiments…'_

* * *

 _Two men walk through the chamber of broken tanks, silent footstep avoiding the broken glass. Wires and tubes decorated the ceiling of the dark room. Out of all the glass tanks, only one was occupied, the tank glowing with green liquid stasis. A young girl with brown hair hovered in the tank, wires coiled around her body. One of the men had long black hair, pale skin and serpentine eyes. The other one was old, bandages wrapped around half his face, and his body heavily clothed in numerous layers of robes._

 _"This one is no good. This one as well. That one too…" The snake like man's eyes drifted from tank to tank, eyeing the broken machines. He stopped in front of only working tank, and looked upon Subject number Nine in distaste. "Even this one is no good. I thought that implanting Hashirama's cells in a child would be successful, but children don't have the stamina nor the strength to endure it. This one will die soon. I guess I'll have to shut this place down."_

 _He started to walk away, the second man following closely behind. "There's no need to worry. There are plenty more ways of cell implantation." Both men walked away, unaware that Subject number Nine was alert, and heard everything._

* * *

"Ki…noe... Kinoe!"

Kinoe snapped out of her trance, Kakashi waving a hand in front of her face.

"Let's go," he said, slipping through the open door. Kinoe trailed after him, but not before casting a brief glance back at the room. Kakashi had already made his way to the next door, hand on the door knob and twisting it. There was a creak of metal, but the door didn't open.

"This one's locked," he states, stepping back.

"Leave it to me." She steps forwards, hands weaving through seals before placing a finger at the entrance of the key hole. Wood grew from her fingertip, shaping into a key and unlocking the door. Kakashi looked at her surprised.

"Mokuton became extinct in Konoha many years ago. How did you learn it?"

Kinoe pushed open the door, but didn't answer.

Kakashi kept speaking. "You are aware that Mokuton is extremely important to Konoha? It's one of the two powers that can control the Kyuubi."

Kinoe picked up several folders, skimming through them. "The sharingan is the other power. Konoha does not need me when they have the Uchiha clan."

"Your Mokuton isn't just for the foundation," he insisted. "It's to serve all of Konoha. Danzo-sama wishes to keep you by his side, but you are more suited to work directly under the Hokage." Kakashi opens the door and walks out. "Don't you want to stop working for the foundation, and come out of the shadows?"

Kinoe frowns behind her mask.

 _'You have no idea…'_

* * *

 _Subject number Nine writhes around in her tank. Electricity sparks to life among the wires connecting to her prison._

 _'No! No…I'm still alive!'_

 _A wooden spike grows from the panicking child, spearing through the side of the tank and cracking the glass. Liquid stasis leaks from the cracks, and it drains down just above her forehead. She stops struggling, giving up on hope and closes her eyes._

 _'I-I'm going to die…'_

 _A loud bang rockets from her left, light shining in the dark room for the first time. She turns her lidded eyes towards the source. The bandaged man from before steps through the door into her blurry vision._

 _"There's a survivor?!"_

* * *

Kinoe clenches the kunai in her hand as they step through a large door, dwarfing the others they broke into beforehand. Her breath hitches in recognition at the chamber they intruded.

 _'No no no no no no no…'_

Empty liquid stasis tanks line up in rows, the shattered glass from her memories cleaned from the floor. The broken tanks are fixed, and there is no sign of any malfunctioned experiments. Two of the tanks are occupied, but she doesn't know what they are for, the glass walls covered in frost. Kinoe walks over to a specific tank, her hand brushing over the label engraved at the base.

"What it is Kinoe?" Kakashi asks, looking over the shoulder of her crouched form.

"Before I was Kinoe, my name was Nine," she murmurs, her finger tracing the number etched into the metal plate. She abruptly stands back up, fingering the kunai she had placed back in her pouch.

"Nine?" He says. "What an odd name."

He wanders over to the two occupied tanks and tries to rub away the frost covering the glass. "There's something in here." Kinoe hesitates, before steeling her resolve and attacks. Kakashi barely managed to dodge, only detecting her because of her reflection in the glass. The Hatake grasps his shoulder where her kunai managed to graze him.

"Kinoe?!"

She doesn't answer him, instead throwing her kunai which he hastily deflects with his sword. She whips out her own sword and swings it at him, forcing him to block the blows.

"Why are you doing this?!"

Kinoe twists her sword against his, then flings his sword away with a flick of her wrist. Kakashi's sword embeds itself in the wall.

"Because I have to," She answers rigidly. She swiped at him again, forcing him to retreat. A wooden pillar erupted from the ground, smashing against his stomach and throwing him against the wall. He quickly lifts his hitai-ate, hoping to capture the foundation agent in a genjutsu with his sharingan. Kinoe backs away mid-charge, an arm covering her eyes. She leaps away to hide, while Kakashi did the same.

The silver haired shinobi placed a gauze against the cut the Kinoe inflicted on him. "Kinoe! Why do we have to fight?! It will be a death match between friends!" He yells out in desperation. Wood sprouts from the stone column he hid behind and wrapped around him. Kinoe appeared before him, sword raised.

"Because it is my mission!" She growls, thrusting her sword into his chest. Kakashi disappeared into smoke as shuriken stabbed into her armguards.

 _'Clone?'_

A kunai was held at her throat. "What kind of mission sends a friend to kill a friend?!" Kakashi demands.

"You're one to talk," Kinoe spits bitterly. She had heard stories of how Hatake Kakashi killed his comrades for the sake of his missions. If was her, she would have never laid a finger on her comrade. Kinoe switched with a wood clone. " _You're_ the one that killed a friend, _Friend-killer Kakashi_."

She leaps down, smashing her sword against his raised arm guard.

"I won't ever kill a friend!" Kakashi protested as she charged at him again. "Stop it Kinoe! Abandon the mission!"

"The mission is absolute!" Kinoe snaps at him, swing her sword. He ducks under the swipe and blocks the next one with a kunai. She thrust her hand forwards, wood shooting from her palm and slamming into his chest. Kakashi managed to throw his kunai into her thigh before he was thrown away. Kinoe leaps away from his sight.

"If your orders are to kill a friend, then your mission is wrong! The person who gave you the mission is wrong!"

Kinoe leaned against the pillar she hid behind, grabbing the kunai in her thigh and ripping it out.

 _'Is Danzo-sama wrong?'_

* * *

 _"…ROOT takes in shinobi who have nowhere to go…"_

 _"…support the great tree – the village…"_

 _"…name will be Kinoe…one of us…"_

 _"…one survivor of sixty children…cherish your life…don't let their sacrifice go to waste…"_

 _"…personally train…Mokuton…"_

 _"…_ _ **protect Konoha at all costs**_ _…"_

* * *

 _'…No, Danzo-sama isn't wrong!'_

Kinoe leaps at Kakashi, swinging her kunai. The Hatake deflects it with his own kunai, and Kinoe pulls out her sword. She attacks him swiftly.

"I will complete my mission!"

Kakashi managed to kick her in the stomach, and she used the momentum to flip away. She swats away the shuriken he threw, and one of them hits the occupied tank. Kakashi launches himself at her, and their blades clash. "Killing a friend is not a mission!" he argued.

"Then why did you kill her?!" She snarls. "Why did you kill Nohara Rin?!" Kakashi flinches, and Kinoe flashed through seals. Several wooden pillars erupt from the ground and shoot towards the Hatake. A young light haired girl with the number four branded into her shoulder briefly over took her vision. "You killed her because it was your mission!" A wooden dome grew to capture the Copy-nin, but he tunnelled through it with Chidori.

"Don't talk about Rin!" He snarls. "As part of my missions, I have to track down and kill traitors, so I can't help being called Friend-killer Kakashi. However…" Kakashi rushed forwards, batting aside the wooden pillars that tried to stop him. "I didn't want to kill her!" He tackled Kinoe, straddling her with his Chidori raised.

"I couldn't protect her! That's why she died!"

 _'Couldn't protect her?'_ Kinoe stared off into space, remembering the other fifty nine friends that died. Especially Subject number Four, the last of her friends that stayed with her till the very end. _'Couldn't protect her,'_ she repeated. If Kakashi had been able to see through her mask, he could have seen tears gathering in the corner of her clenched eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?" Kinoe asked softly.

"No, I'll never kill a friend. But, I'll take you into custody and turn you over to the Hokage."

She sighed. "Do whatever you want."

The two of them were unaware of the serpentine silhouette that hovered over them in the cracked tank above them. He deactivated his Chidori and tied her arms behind her back. Kakashi hauled her up.

"We're leaving," He said.

"But what about you're mission?" Kinoe asked confused.

"The lab isn't going anywhere. Getting you to the Hokage is more important."

He prodded her in the back to make her move. They were half way to the door before they heard glass shattering. The two shinobi whipped around, spotting one the tanks had been broken, its contents missing. Kakashi pulled out a kunai. "Stay put," he told her, before approaching the tank.

Kinoe gave a startled squeak when white snakes pooled at her feet. She hopped from one foot to the other, kicking away any of the reptiles that tried to slither up her legs. Kakashi turned around when he heard a hiss, coming face to face with a snake seemingly make up of smaller snakes. He jumped away when it launched itself at him, digging up concrete when it missed. He landed next to the foundation agent.

"What is that?" She asked shakily.

"It's one of Orochimaru's experiments," Kakashi informed her, and she flinched when its forked tongue flickered out. It hissed, and hundreds of snakes were flung at them. Kakashi managed to kill any that went his way, but Kinoe was still tied and was promptly buried in snakes ( ** _Goddamn bastard didn't have the decency to untie her_** ). He hurled his kunai at the larger snake, but it dispersed and the weapon went through harmlessly. It flung itself down at the buried Kinoe, mouth agape and swallowed her whole.

"Kinoe!"

Kakashi leapt off his platform towards the snake which seemed to enjoy wanting to kill him. Chidori blazing, he drove his arm straight through the snake's head.

"Give me my friend back!"

* * *

 _Shattered glass. She's still in that damn tank._

 _'…Dead…everyone's dead…'_

 _'…gonna die too…'_

 _'…don't want to die…not like this…'_

 **"KINOE!"**

 _'Who?'_

 **"KINOE! Wake up!"**

* * *

She opened her eyes to the sight of Kakashi hovering over her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, helping her sit up.

"I think so…But why?"

He turned her over and untied her.

"Why what?" He said incredulously.

"If you had left me there…I would have deserved it."

"I couldn't just let you die. You're my friend," He insisted.

"A…friend, huh?"

A hiss of gas alerted them to the incoming danger. Kakashi's sensitive nose told him exactly what it was. He covered his mouth, turning away from the smouldering snake corpse.

"Don't inhale! It's poisonous!" Kinoe managed to scramble to her feet and stumble away, but Kakashi was exposed to the poison much more than she was. He collapsed, trying to hold his breath.

"Kakashi!" She ran back over to him, and slung his arm over her shoulder, dragging him away. Hauling him outside, she shut the doors behind them to keep in the gas. Rushing over to Kakashi's still form, she pulled out an antidote and stabbed the needle in his thigh. Kakashi groaned, his glazed eyes closing shut in a grimace. Kinoe pressed an ear to his chest, checking for a steady heartbeat. She pulled away, eyeing his limp body, and pulling out a kunai.

 _'Now to complete my mission…'_

* * *

"So you didn't need me," Kinoto said when she showed him the jar with a sharingan floating in liquid stasis. "What did you do with Kakashi?"

Putting the jar back in her pouch, she responded, "I made it look like an accident. The ANBU will find his body and think the cause of death would be from Orochimaru's traps."

"Good. Let's go."

* * *

Glass shattered at her feet. She didn't look up from her kneeled form as Danzo glared at her in fury.

"What is the meaning of this, Kinoe? Not only did you abandon your mission, you faked his death poorly and had the _nerve_ to return to me! I sent two people for this mission!" At this, Kinoto flinched. Neither of them looked down at the fake eye on the floor.

"Why did you do this? What was your intention?" The bandaged man questioned.

"Kakashi told me that friends do not kill their comrades. He is a shinobi of Konoha, so why did I have to target him? I am…confused," She replied. Danzo scowled at her, his eye narrowed.

"You are showing an emotion that should have been discarded years ago. The only people that you can call 'friends' are the shinobi of the foundation. As the leader of ROOT, my missions are absolute! You have no name, you have no emotion, no past, and no future. So what did you hope to achieve by failing this mission?! Are you listening Kinoe?!"

"My name…is not Kinoe," She whispered, defiance in her eyes. She wasn't going to throw away everything she went through. She wasn't going to forget Subject number Four, and she wasn't going to throw away her morals and emotion just for one man's greed.

"Speak up!"

"I said, _that my name is not Kinoe!_ "

"Don't be foolish! You are Kinoe of the foundation! What other name would you have?!" Danzo protested, his grip on his cane tightening.

"My name…is Nine," The newly renamed Nine said with resolve.

Danzo's nostrils flared. Uncovering his weakening sharingan, he placed an unprepared Nine in a genjutsu. She collapsed onto the wooden floor, and Danzo turned to his other foundation agent. "It is clear that Kakashi has somehow brainwashed her. Kinoto, take her to the treatment room and bind her with a curse seal. We have to undo the crazy thoughts that the Hatake has placed in her head."

"Hai!"

* * *

 **Please leave a review and tell me what you think :)**


End file.
